From Yuj to Yoga: The Word That United the World
Tomorrow marks the 11th International Day of Yoga - a day dedicated to raising awareness of yoga’s holistic benefits for body, mind, and spirit, and to promoting healthier lifestyles and global harmony.
This year’s theme is ‘Yoga for One Earth, One Health’.
The day was proposed by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the United Nations in 2014 and was adopted with unprecedented global support: 177 member states co-sponsored the resolution.
The first International Yoga Day was celebrated on 21 June 2015, with mass events and record participation worldwide. The date was specifically chosen to coincide with the summer solstice.
Yoga found its global stage thanks to a Prime Minister from the country where it first began. The holistic appeal of yoga - physical, mental, and spiritual - helped the world forget its borders and unite as one.
This unity lies at the heart of yoga’s core tenet.
The word ‘yoga’ originates from the Sanskrit noun ‘yoga’, derived from the root ‘yuj’, meaning ‘to yoke’, ‘to join’, ‘to attach’, or ‘to unite’.
In the Upanishads, the term began to signify spiritual practices aimed at uniting the individual self with universal consciousness.
The Katha Upanishad encourages the use of yoga as control of the senses, while the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali define yoga as ‘the stilling of the changing states of the mind’, emphasising concentration and mental discipline.
Over time, yoga has come to refer to a wide range of spiritual, physical, and philosophical practices, but its core meaning remains rooted in the idea of union or integration - of mind, body, and spirit.
The International Day of Yoga keeps this meaning at its heart: to unite the world.
A practitioner of yoga - a spiritual seeker - is called a yogi (masculine) or yogini (feminine), terms from Classical Sanskrit that entered English via Hindi and colonial encounters in the 17th century.
Early English forms included alternative spellings such as ‘jogi’, ‘yogue’, and ‘yogee’. While the original form described an advanced practitioner, in Western usage ‘yogi’ has evolved to refer more broadly to anyone who practices yoga, especially the physical postures (asanas).
However, in the Indian context, the emphasis remains on meditation, discipline, and spiritual attainment over mere physical exercise.
As yoga has globalised, there is a responsibility for advanced practitioners to ensure it retains its spiritual path and does not become just a method of physical exercise.
Yogis are spiritual seekers - travellers on a journey to unite with themselves.
In this sense, the word itself has followed the same path: beginning in ancient India and crossing the world into the English language.
Now, as the world embraces the practice, more people are coming into the fold - each uniting, in their own way, with the spirit of yoga.
It was heartening to hear Rishi Sunak and Akshata Murthy speak about the concept of dharma during their recent Stanford address. If you’d like to read my reflections on their speech, along with a brief note on the etymology of dharma, you can find my LinkedIn post here: